Bookshelves

We have many speaker manufacturers come into Carlton Audio Visual with their designs looking for them to be showcased in a retail environment. Out of all of them that knock on our doors, it's not many that prick up our well trodden ears. These little units certainly did! My initial impression was, I must admit - 'not another LS3/5a knockoff'. But oh gosh what a pleasant surprise. These really do retrieve a lot bass frequency and more music than their direct competitors. And yes, we love to support a product that is made here in Melbourne!

These little fellas are on display ready for demo now.

Sylvan exists to build top flight passive speakers with beautiful sonics, aesthetics and materials. Think of the Portal as an internally modernised LS3/5a - with the same focus on  neutrality, depth and clarity which has made the original an enduring landmark in the hi-fi landscape - but with the added weight of 40 years of incremental improvements in transducer design.  

What Sylvan have set out to do here, is apply their thinking and design principles to this classic form factor. The thing closest to their heart is the same as the designers of the original BBC LS3/5a - voices and instruments MUST sound natural. What’s different about Sylvan's approach is preference for first order electrical crossover networks (this is nothing new in the industry, see also Marten and Dynaudio to name two greats) and the qualities they bring to the finished speaker, when done right.  

Essentially this means that the overlap of sound energy between the low frequency and high frequency drivers is greater, and their respective rolloff slopes are shallower. This is mostly not done in the industry as it requires very careful selection of drivers, first and foremost - they must be linear over a greater range. Usually driver designers optimise their drivers for very specific ‘pass bands’ and their response outside that range can be challenging, so they are rolled off harder to mask this raggedness, which also increases their power handling. So that’s all fine, but what makes a first order network attractive then? In a word, phase. At the listening position, more of the acoustic energy that you hear as coming from two separate point sources (the two drivers) over the critical midrange, will be in phase - that is, not cancelling each other out. This means your auditory system has to do less work piecing together all the anomalies. Put another way, first order networks, when done right with the right drivers, simply make music where other speakers make sound. Tying into this, if you look closely at the baffle you will see that the tweeter is recessed, this pushes the acoustic centre back into closer alignment with the midwoofer - again increasing midrange coherence.

When done right, this methodology will result in magic - Sylvan's approach is vindicated simply by enjoyment of the music, hour after hour.

Sylvan speakers are made and designed here in Melbourne. They are a bespoke made-to-order product. Please contact us for lead times and availability.

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Now on demonstration in Carlton AV. A thorough piece of tech-art that infuses space age drive unit materials with a mirror lacquer cabinet finish. Super musical resolution with Hyphn trickle-down drive units and the provenance of one of Monitor Audios most iconic compact D'Appolito configurations.

These are all about producing a huge sound from a very compact enclosure. Think Lotus Evora. They will really benefit from a powerful fullsome amplifier.

The official Monitor Audio Studio 89 web page

Tech Radar on the Studio 89

Stereonet on the Studio 89

"What Hi Fi?" introduces the Studio 89

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This is the smallest loudspeaker that uses the zylon drive units to proffer harmony of bass and treble integration. This is a simple concept, the bass and treble components of a transducer should be made of the same substance as all materials have their own characteristic resonant timbre. Only Yamaha has been able to iterate this using the full technological force of its massive musical corporate resource to produce the magic material zylon.

The NS600 pays homage to Yamaha Pianos in the quality of the external finish and the techniques used ro minimise cabinet resonance. They are very attractive and the gloss black finish is far more durable and less prone to damage than normal loudspeaker surfaces.

Official Yamaha NS600 page

Stereonet on the Yamaha NS600 loudspeakers

The NS600 was also the designation of a famous Danish Steam Engine that was very advanced for its time in 1863 ...

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Once upon a time there was a very particular speaker designed for the BBC by a certain Mr Dudley Harwood ... this was intended to maximise the resolution of the music source in order to enable as much of the signal to be revealed as possible. These Spendors are the lineal technology descendant of those original BBC monitors and are so absolutely handsome when you take them out of their box that you want them to marry into the family. If you do take them home you will find them unfailingly polite but absolutely demanding of source and amplification.

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A stablemate of the industry for over 70 years. Few products hold this legendary status, such as the Quad Esl-57's and Linn LP12

Graham Audio are proud to present the BBC-licensed Chartwell LS3/5A.

The LS3/5A was produced by BBC Designs Department in response to detail changes in the performance of the drive units that were originally chosen for the LS3/5 as designed by BBC Research and Development. It is the most well-known of all the BBC loudspeakers, and remains the compact loudspeaker of choice for many today.

As you would expect, our version - engineered by Derek Hughes - includes authentic details such as the perforated metal tweeter grille, thick felt pads surrounding the tweeter, and Velcro rather than our usual hidden magnets to secure the grille frame. The cabinet uses 12mm panels and a fixed rear panel, according to BBC Designs Department's specification.

As the only company to have ever manufactured the LS3/5, and now also the LS3/5A, audiophiles are now in the unique position of being able to hear for themselves the differences that these changes made to the design originally intended by BBC R&D.

 

Cherry or Oak Standard RRP

Walnut and Rosewood add $249 to RRP

Ebony Add $749 to RRP

Custom Finish $POA

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The LS3/5A is perhaps the best-known of all the BBC's monitor designs. The BBC needed a small monitor that was suitable for critical assessment of programme quality in cramped OB vehicles and control rooms, and nothing suitable was available commercially. At the same time, a separate research project - an investigation into acoustic scaling of studios - had developed a miniature loudspeaker, and it was realised that it could be adapted for monitoring use. After much developement, the original LS3/5 was born.

Cherry or Oak $4749

Walnut and Rosewood $4999

Ebony $5499

Custom Finish $POA

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At Carlton Audio Visual we have a long history of supporting Australian made Hifi so we jumped at the chance to add another promising Australian made speaker to our inventory.

And these are an impressive little speaker. The goal was a large ‘full-range’ sound, with accuracy and detail. Also high on the ‘to-do’ list was an ability to perform well in difficult acoustic spaces and create a very easy to listen to sound in these acoustically ‘normal’ rooms.

They use an Isobaric design which means it has a compound driver array with a big passive radiator on the back for incredible bass extension. The unusual design allows the bookshelf speaker to reach low frequencies that should only be possible with $15K Floorstanding speakers. The low frequency extension from these compact thirty somethung centimetre boxes has the listener instore immediately looking for the hidden subwoofer. You have to look at a seriously fiscal Dynaudio Confidence or Sonus faber Homage to get that kind of low frequency reproduction from a speaker of this size from imported product ... those are $20K plus designs ....!

No we are not saying that these are better than those loudspeakers ... but this unique isobaric design does some things extraordinarily well.

They offer an open slightly diffuse midrange that portrays a very wide soundstage. It does not have the explicit midrange presence of so many tweaked and bright imported designs but also lacs that fatigue factor that is endemic to those designs.

Soundstage on these is also impressive. Very wide and capable of filling a large space without the necessity of a critical listening position .. you dont need to have your head centimetrically placed to hear all the music. .

Bear in mind though, these little speakers are $4999 which is a neat price for the tricks these speakers execute. Of course if you triple your budget you can get a better speaker but these will put smiles on many faces for under $5k.

"Soundstage Australia review on the Dellichord FR6 by Edgar Kramer

Official Dellichord website

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This is the diminutive spawn of the mighty FR30 but will still shake your room down to 35Hz ... available for Demo September onwards in Carlton AV.

Official PS Audio Aspen FR5 page

The Aspen FR5 stand mount loudspeakers are extraordinary performers delivering powerful and dynamic sound with extended bass even in larger rooms. Utilizing innovative new technologies like viscoelastic damping sheets between the bracing and cabinet side walls, a newly-designed 6.5-inch cast frame midrange/woofer made from Curv woven polypropylene, and a state-of-the-art air core and film cap crossover, the FR5 delivers the same quality of extraordinary musical realism as the larger Aspen Series models, in a compact design that fits easily into smaller and medium-sized rooms.

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At Carlton Audio Visual we're passionate about supporting Australian made speakers and electronics. Models of Australian made speakers have been particularly popular with our customers. Legend Acoustic and Ambience were mainstays of our inventory for decades.

Another South Australian speaker manufacturer, Krix, flies its flag more in the Home Theatre space especially with their MX, behind-the-screen, series of speakers.

VAF are made not too far away from the Krix factory but are a very different type of speaker. Detailed, egaging, transparent. They take more from an amp to get going than the Krixes. So if you like to play loud and hard, I'd still point you in the direction of Krix. But if you're listening critically in a small room not at high dB levels, these are perefct.

On demo now at Carlton Audio Visual. Come and hear them for yourself!

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The Yamaha NS-800A speakers have just landed at Carlton Audio Visual. We've had them running in and stretching their wings in the main demo space.

The NS-800A feature the same innovative cabinet design as the top of the range NS-5000 speakers. That is to say that instead of packing the insides of the cabinet with acoustically absorbing material like foam, Yamaha uses their 'absorber tubes'. These don't completely dampen the sound rather they keep a freshness and pep to the music.

Even without being fully run-in, these speakers are exciting, forward and immeadiate. They don't quite have all the pep of the NS-5000s but that's to be expected given that the NS-5000s are nearly triple the price.

They also don't feature the Zylon drivers of the NS-5000s having instead a pulp (paper) mix in the driver. The Zylon evidently works to give the higher range of speakers extra punch and attack.

But the lineage is still clear and if you love that Yamaha pure and fast sound, you're going to love these.

What I've also noticed is unlike a lot of bookshelf speakers, the mid-range is still quite present with the NS-800a. They are quite consistent throughout the frequency sweep and don't show the characteristic hole in the mids which plagues many a lesser set of bookshelves.

You won't be dissapointed by their bass either. Rich and full. Surprising for a bookshelf speaker, even one like this, that is on the larger side. But more importantly articulation and attack are not lost in the bass either. This can be another pitfall of less efficient bookshelves that find it difficult to articulate bass lines and give you more wooliness than crispness.

 

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Monitor Audio loudspeakers are the inventory dark matter of Carlton Audio Visual. In the last eighteen years since we instituted our current management system we have sold over 6000 units of Monitor Audio loudspeakers. A good proportion of those are this particular category of "Fat bookshelf" which is where the beams cross for for those critical high fidelity engineering parameters of frequency response, sensitivity, minimal cabinet resonance, and point source drive unit arrangement.

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Perhaps the best value in the Classic range. Absolutely gorgeous midrange. So lifelike!. Enough fast, accurate, bass to sound full range but a still easy to accommodate in any room enclosure size. Built in the UK to the same exacting standards as the SP200!

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A sweet little speaker with a sweet sound. These are a classic BBC thinwalled Birch Ply built in what some may call the traditional style. Easy to listen to and very classically British.

If anyone walks into Carlton Audio Visual wearing a tweed jacket, we'd take them straight to these...

Cherry and Oak Add $0 to rrp

Walnut or Rosewood add $349

Ebony add $599

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From the origins of the loudspeaker industry in Glasgow comes this piece of musical intensity that is the Fyne Audio F700.
A very nice piece of engineering that proffers an explicit presentation with pin point imaging.

Fyne Audio F700 official site.

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Epos has risen, like a Phoenix from the flames and has come out with a new version of their classic ES14, the ES14N!

They state that they have deliberately gone for a 'non lifestyle, classic' aesthetic with their design but I can't help thinking they have time morphed from the 90s. Of they fit in perfectly in the downstairs of Carlton's main demonstration area, that also hasn't seen a redesign since the 90s!

But the 90s are cool again, aren't they!?

There are of course more technical reasons behind their choices in box and driver design and you can read all about that here at the official Epos website.

After initially feeling that these were a slightly bass shy design it transpired that after running in, the ES14 became one of the deepest note capable designs we’ve heard from a box this size. They do that trick of allowing a new listener to hear bass notes clearly in a familiar piece of music that have been previously undiscerned. Also they offer you spatial awareness, detailed treble and engaging mids that are the hallmark of a classic design. Totally worth a listen.

Epos ES14N speakers and stands package $8795

On display now at Carlton Audio Visual

A review by "LowBeats" publication on the ES14N

A review by AV forums on the ES14N

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We first saw this unique design as a tentative and secret prototype while drinking wine from the Krix Vineyard two years ago.

There is no doubt that Krix possess world class R&D facilities with state of the art instrumentation and analysis. It was with interest that I looked under a table in one of their laboratories and found the disassembled carcasses of B&W and Monitor Audio bookshelf speakers during that visit ...

It turns out that Scott has always nurtured an ambition to shake the audiophile tree for the high end bookshelf speaker. The Esoterix Altum is the result of that.

Now not everybody has grooved to their appearance it seems.

Think of them as that bespectacled fair haired girl who always sits quietly at the front of class while the cool kids hang shite on her. Then one day she’s on the front cover of Vogue while taking a break from studying medicine at Cambridge ... these speakers will one day be recognized as classics of sound and aesthetics ...

Matching stands for the Esoterix Altums are available at $1655.

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The natural evolution of today’s Sonus faber, is enclosed in this new creation. Minima Amator II is the restatement of a fundamental product first introduced in 1992 when the company was establishing key principles that would go on to guide future productions: accurate design and high-quality materials, combined to obtain a sound reproduction as natural as possible.

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The brand new Monitor Audio Platinum PL100 3G have just been unboxed last week. These are a seriously nice speaker. Solidly made with a classic Monitor Audio liveness transparency and fun!

Darren is our resident Monitor Audio fanatic having owned a pair himself. His verdict? - 'hmmm, very good!'

Don't trust Darren though, come in and listen for yourself! We're putting some good mileage on them running them in so they're ready for a good demo listening session.

These will be a very popular speaker, no doubt.

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A true classic English speaker taking its aesthetics and ethos from the 60s. The cabinets are made from a relatively thin wooden casing which like a hand made violin will flex ever so slightly at lower frequencies where we don't hear as much and are rigid where it matters for the upper bass, mids and treble.

A gorgeous warmth to these just oozes out of them. Whereas the new tech D series Spendors are for seekers of truth and accuracy these Classic series are all about the emotional engagement.

This is how they've made speakers for the BBC for decades and those that love the 'Classic' sound will fall in love with these.

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